27   Friday, September 26   Winnipeg, MB

My slef-discipline (did I ever have any?) is slipping;
I seem to be writing here close to every 2 days, rather
than every day as I originally intended. O well -- last
night was also in Winnipeg anyway. Winnipeg itself is
nothing short of "wicked." I say this at the risk of
sounding -- to myself, at any rate -- like one of those
stereotypical tourists gushing plastic praise at
everything they encounter. I do find, however, that
Winnipeg is great. Regina was "nice" -- Winnipeg is
nothing other than wicked. I admit I didn't think as
much last night when I arrived. More bike troubles (what
else?). I place the blame solely on the horrible,
detestable, despicable roads here in Manitoba. In order
to discourage driving on the shoulders (when they exist),
the gov't has dumped gravel all over them. What this
means is that all the way from Portage to Winnipeg
(50+ miles), I have been kicking dust and grime and
gravel into the gears (too much traffic to ride on the
road itself). Ultimately, they fouled themselves up
totally. So I have spent the day today getting them
fixed. Luckily not as much trouble as the pedal earlier.
I am just thankful that this happened here in Winnipeg
and not half-way between Thunder Bay and the Sault, for
example, with literally hundreds of miles to the closest
bike shop. That being the case, I got the whole thing
tuned-up, so *should* be able to make the Northern
Ontario leg without too much further mishap. Gooch's
Bikes in Winnipeg was great. Brilliant service, and they
fully lived up to the prairie trait of being really
friendly. True service with a smile. Beyond that, I
dunno what to say. Have I mentioned that I love
Winnipeg? Although truth be told, I wouldn't want to be
here in the winter... the weather is great right now
-- 30+ degrees in the day (85F); a bit on the warm side
if anything. The hostel here is also brilliant, with
great staff. Well, all of Winnipeg is great. I had the
bike fixed fairly early today, so I had a bit of time
to do some "touristy" things. Of course, the first stop
was the corner of Portage and Main, the "Windiest
Intersection in Canada". Dead calm. hehe -- no wind
whatsoever. Actually the intersection wasn't quite what
I imagined; not at all the same as the pictures. Although
I did return later on this afternoon, and to be sure,
there was a howling wind gustiung through. The same kind
you see in the old cowboy flicks. Despite the fact that
it's surrounded by banks, modern hotels, and office towers
and skyscrapers, a tumbleweed blowing through wouldn't
have been *too* out of place, in a strange, slightly
theatrical way. Also visited "The Forks" nat. historical
site. That was pretty neat, although very commercialized.
I am actually getting a fair dose of history as I go
along. I make a point of stopping to read all the tourist
info signs on the side of the highway, so I know a fair
amount about southern Canada. This is, if somewhat
unexpected, good. Somewhat more than my expectations.
Anyway. I'm getting tired now, so will finish this off
and go dig up some dinner. Till next, then. Hopefully, I
will find some discipline and continue tomorrow, rather
than later.